Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-03-02

4 C1K0ts- . Kk00o sXOON ~"
minds. To get a fire we must have wood,
and to ret wood, as was soon realized, we
must sacrifice some portion Of the boat. The
door to the locker in the stern sheets was IN
hinged, and . couple Of the men fell to and
made shayings and >kindlings~ Of it. Then
some Of the entrails and fat were cut up into
small pieces, and we started a fire at the door
Of our a As soon a. the kindlings were
| alieht we put on pieces Of fat, and there was
= cheer all around as the fire began to blaze
ND and throw out its warmth. Then we sfelf
to, each man for himself, and cut of as much
meat as we wanted and held it over the blaze
on splinters. Despite the poor roasting and
the absence of salt we made . hearty meal
| and the fire was soon after smothered out.
In clear weather it. would have sent out q
smoke to be seen twenty miles from the
crows nest of a whaler, but with that thick
atmosphere shutting us in, it was simply
burning up precious fuel for nothing:
Although it had been showing for SO many
hours, and showing in way to have made
drifts ten feet high on land, very little of it
had remained on the berg, owing, Of course.
to the high winds blowing over it. The mate
| gave us leave to scatter for a look around,
though warming us against taking any
chances, and presently I found myself in his
| company as we walked part way along the
length of tho shelf and came to a spot upon
which We could climb with a promise Of q
| view to windward. Up we went, making our
feet sure at every step, and the bowling OF
| the gale all the time seeming nearer, n
! by and bye we looked out between two pin
nacles and had a square look into the face OF
the storm. We were not yet at the top Of
the berg by any means, but had struck a
sort of rift in the center of it and about forty
feet above the sea. A more f~orbidding sight
l never looked upon. The sea was in a per-
! feet turmoil, finging spray almost as high as
our faces, and two other bergs, each SEEM
ingly as large as our own were in sight
! through tho haze. One was on what might
/ be called our starboard bow, and the other
on the starboard quarter, and the three of us
were driving off to the west under the influ-
/ ence of the waves and the gale. Above our
beads, around the icy pinnacles and steeples,
the wind shrieked md screamed and whistled
IN a way to make ones hair stand up on end.
"Nelson," said the mate as we clambered
part way down and stopped to rest, "what do
you think Of our chances"
"Well, sir, it's a bad fix. We can't look
for any change under three days, at the least.
I know the ship will look for us. but the pack
ice NAV drive down too heavy for her, or we
may be too widely separated. However, we
have the chance of being sighted by another
whaler."
"That's all true" be said in a gloomy voice,
"and We must keep up our spirits. The most
I fear Just now is another collision"
We scrambled down to the shelf, and thence
along to the cave, where we found the other
three. They had also obtained a look to
windward, and every face was gloomy
enough. We had been worn out aboard the
whaler for want of sleep, and after a little
we all began to doze, and then fell off into
slumber, and it was after moor by the mates
watch before we were aroused. Then it was
by another grinding and crunching, and by
feeling the wind shrieking about us, and we
turned out to find that our berg was swing
ing around to the gale, while it was at the
same time forcing its way through heavy
pack ice. In half an hour more our cave
faced to windward, and the grinding was
something positively awful. We were all
set in a tremble at the way the berg quivered
and shook and threatened to go to pieces, and
while Williams, who was the youngest of all,
tell to crying like q woman, some of the Others
called upon God to ave. us. The berg kept
swinging, and by 2 o'clock We were again on
tho lee side, and now we could look right down
on the tremendous struggle between our berg
and tho heavy ice which covered the sea for
miles around us. The berg was driving faster
than the ice, and nothing could check its
progress. As it pushed steadily through the
pack the grinding was as if thunderbolts were
ripping through a forest. We did not swing
but that once, though the gale did not break
until midnight.
Just before dark we lighted our fire again
and cooked some more meat, and that night
we all slept soundly. The next day dawned
bright and clear, with the wind blowing from
thesouth, and before noon the ice most exposed
to the sun was thawing. We had a clear sky.
and could see for miles around US, and a grand
sight it was. The pack ice had mostly gone of
to the west, but there were a score of big and
little bergsin view. We kept the breakfast fire
going all day as a beacon fire, smotherlng 1t
down occasionally to make q black smoke,
and we rambled about a good deal over the
berg. We started up three white foxes, but
as we dared not use the muskets for fear that
the conclusion might work US harm, we made
no captures The night car" On tranquil,
with the wind going to the "c>s and holding
balmy, and we had nothing 10 disturb us. In
the morning, as we were toaa;i.ig Our meat,we
felt a tremendous CULVER run through the berg,
and next moment a good third OF it split OH
with q terrible crash and foated away from
us. The loss of this portion gave us a bad list
to port, and for half IN hour we were in mo
mentary expectation of the berg capsizing. 1t
foated steadily, however, and by and by we
were treasured, and began to walk about
again, while the fire sent up a smoke winch
could be seen many miles away.
It was about an hour after noon, and the
mate was making ready to remove a thwart
from the boat to use for kindling, when the
Scottish steam whaler Highlander suddenly
rounded a great berg to the southeast OF us,
and came into full view Of one of the men
who had Just climbed up for a lookout. She had
seen our smoke and had been making toward
us for hours. An hour after she was first seen
We were aboard of her, and it isn'tfor the pur-
pose of exaggerating the perils Of our adven-
ture that I tell you we had not steamed two
miles from that berg when it split in three
portions with thunderous sounds, and every
portion turned turtle.
We didn't find u chip again, but were
eventually landed at Valparaiso, where we got
berths aboard Of others. The Vestal, as we
afterward came to know, searched for US for
the best part Of a week, and then, feeling that
we must have certainly been lost, put up her
helm and was of to a new cruising ground,
while we. were entered on the log book as
thousands of others have been.-New York
Sun -.--.
By reference to our dispatches it will be
seen that the nomination of Patrick Talent
as Postmaster OF Butte was confirmed yes
terday.
The culture OF tobacco in Germany, VIII oh
has declined since 1881, is now progressing.
l 1886, 597 acres bavlng been planted this
against 1862, $50 acres last year: